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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Sanjay Karol, Augustine George Masih, JJ.
Sivaraman Nair and others – Appellants
Versus
State of Kerala And Another – Respondents
Criminal Appeal No. 2142 of 2026 (Arising Out Of SLP (Crl.) No. 9195 of 2025)
Decided On : 24-04-2026
Indian Penal Code, 1860 – Sections 494 and 498A read with Section 34 – Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – Section 482[Section 528 of BNSS] – Bigamy and cruelty – Common intention – Refusal to quash criminal proceedings – Gravamen of complaint lies against accused-husband – Specific allegations regarding physical assault, demand of dowry and mental torture have been made against him pertaining to specific dates and incidents – However, FIR does not attribute to them any specific act of demand, threat, or physical assault on any identifiable occasion to accused-appellant no. 1, father-in-law, accused-appellant no. 2, mother-in-law and accused-appellant no. 3, sister-in-law – In order to bring home charge under Section 494 of IPC, complainant is required to prima facie prove overt act or omission of accused persons in second marriage ceremony – Prosecution has failed to provide any cogent evidence to establish such overt act or intention on part of accused-appellants – High Court relied upon statement of a witness to infer knowledge on part of accused-appellants – However, such inferential knowledge, without more, is insufficient to satisfy threshold which requires evidence of overt act or omission – Criminal proceedings quashed qua accused-appellants. (Paras 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28)
Facts of the case:
Present appeal assails the judgment and order dated 25.11.2024 passed by High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in Crl.MC. No.5826 of 2023 whereby High Court declined to quash proceedings arising out of FIR No.1318 of 2016 registered at Museum Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala under Sections 494 and 498A read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code,1860 lodged at the instance of Respondent no.2 herein against her husband, her father-in-law (Accused-appellant no.1 herein), mother-in-law (Accused-appellant no.2 herein) and sister-in-law (Accused-appellant no.3 herein).
Findings of Court:
Impugned order dated 25.11.2024 is set aside and proceedings arising out of FIR No. 1318 of 2016 registered at Museum Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram stand quashed qua accused-appellants herein.
Result : Appeal allowed.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. appeal challenges high court refusal to quash fir proceedings (Para 1 , 2 , 11 , 12 , 13) |
| 2. timeline of cruelty, dowry demands, gold sale, bigamy discovery (Para 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10) |
| 3. vague allegations, delay, no 494 liability for in-laws (Para 14 , 15 , 16 , 17) |
| 4. in-laws actively abetted cruelty, aware of bigamy (Para 18 , 19 , 20) |
| 5. bhajan lal criteria for quashing under section 482 crpc (Para 21 , 22) |
| 6. general allegations insufficient for 498a against relatives (Para 23 , 24 , 25) |
| 7. knowledge alone inadequate for 494 abetment; overt act required (Para 26 , 27) |
| 8. quash proceedings against appellants; appeal allowed (Para 28 , 29 , 30) |
JUDGMENT :
AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J.
1. Leave granted.
2. The present appeal assails the judgment and order dated 25.11.2024 passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in Crl.MC. No.5826 of 2023 whereby the High Court declined to quash the proceedings arising out of FIR No.1318 of 2016 registered at Museum Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala under sections 494 and 498A read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code,1860 (hereinafter referred to as ‘IPC’) lodged at the instance of Respondent no.2 herein against her husband, her father-in-law (Accused-appellant no.1 herein), mother-in-law (Accused-appellant no.2 herein) and sister-in-law (Accused-appellant no.3 herein).
3. The facts in brief are that Respondent no.2 married Syam Sivaraman Nair on 19th December 2007.
4. On 24th August 2016, she filed a complaint before the police station alleging that she was subjected to dowry harassment from the inception of her marriage. She stated that her husband took her to Abu Dhabi after her marriage while the accused-appellants resided in Kawdiar, Kerala. While she was residing with her husband, she was often physically assaulted and mentally tortured by him. It was alleged that he would take drugs and torture her with demand of Rs.30 lakhs and 47 sovereigns of gold.
5. She further stated that on her becoming pregnant, she came to live in her native village in October 2008. While she was living there, her husband would frequently call her and harass her regarding dowry. He took her back with him in September 2009 under the impression of arranging for a job for her but she was again mentally and physically harassed there.
6. Thereafter, in April 2010 she was taken to the house in Saudi Arabia where the accused-appellants were residing. There she overheard them discussing the sale of 153 gold sovereigns and was subjected to assault and threatened by her husband regarding the matter.
7. It was alleged that in June 2010 she was taken back to India and upon her objections to discussions regarding sale of the gold sovereigns, she was threatened of being abandoned with her child. The 153 gold sovereigns were sold and a Volkswagen car was purchased in the name of her husband from the amount received. The balance amount was given to her sister-in-law for purchasing a flat.
8. She again went abroad in October 2010 with her husband where she was frequently assaulted for dowry by him. It was alleged that pursuant to this her elder brother gave the parents of her husband Rs. 5 lakhs on 26th May 2011, Rs.15 lakhs on 31st August 2011 and Rs. 9 lakhs on 22nd June 2011. Thereafter, she was left in her native village while her husband went abroad.
9. In February 2015, her husband took her back to reside in Mavelikkara, Kerala. While residing there, a lawyer’s notice was received in the name of her husband which was sent by one Simran G. who claimed to be his wife. Photos of them standing together were also received. When she enquired regarding this, she was told that they were sent by somebody to fool her. Later on, her brother discovered that her husband had gotten married to one Simran in Andhra on 21st May 2013 by suppressing that he was already married.
10. After a few months, in September 2015, her husband again started demanding money and assaulting her, after which her elder brother
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